After months of negotiation the Cape Cod Baseball League and Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) have reached an agreement that allows the CCBL to continue its use of trademarks of Major League Baseball teams, including the Hyannis Mets.

According to a CCBL press release, Major League Clubs are required by law to protect their trademarks, including marks they own that are used as nicknames and/or logos for six of the Cape League’s teams, one of which is the Mets.

For the foreseeable future, the six CCBL teams sharing MLB monikers will utilize MLBP-licensed vendors for team uniforms and other name-bearing products in order to maintain trademark requirements.

Merchandise without the MLB name (for example, a shirt reading only “Hyannis”) can be purchased through a team’s chosen vendor.

Issues surrounding trademark protection were brought to light this past spring when MLB notified the Cape League that uniforms and souvenir merchandise would have to be purchased from pricier MLB vendors rather than locally operated businesses.

MLB also requested that they receive 11 percent of sales from the six teams sharing MLB names – the Chatham A’s, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Harwich Mariners, Bourne Braves, Orleans Cardinals and Hyannis Mets. Non-compliance could have cost the Cape League its $100,000 annual grant from MLB.

As a result of requests from MLB, each of the six teams began considering name changes in order to maintain their relationships with local merchants.

News of the situation sparked outrage among team fans, including Mets fans, with rumors circulating widely of possible new names for the Hyannis team.

At the moment, Hyannis Athletic Association President Tino DiGiovanni said the Hyannis team will keep the Mets moniker.

“The long and the short of it is we have not made a decision on which way we’re going at this stage,” DiGiovanni said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s a big decision, obviously.”

While a name change has been a topic of discussion at HAA meetings, DiGiovanni noted that it’s a huge undertaking and involves complications such as funding and team name recognition.

DiGiovanni acknowledged feeling frustrated with the rumors of an impending Mets name change.

“People like to talk, to have answers, to know things even if they don’t,” he said. “It’s a human thing [but] there is a difference between rumor and fact. At this stage it’s strictly rumor.”

According to DiGiovanni if a name change is necessary, it will come only as a result of long and thoughtful discussion between members of the HAA.

“We haven’t decided where we’re going yet or how we’re going to get there,” he said. “This is a big decision for us to make and at the end of the day it better be the right decision.”